Letter: Signs reflecting faith won’t help

Sheriff Arnott hasn’t had much luck with “In God We Trust” signs on his patrol cars. In fact, ever since the Greene County commission put up their sign, they have had nothing but trouble. Justin Burnett wants to put up “In God We Trust” signs for his god. The city has sued the sheriff over the jail problem, and the sheriff has sued right back.

Whose god will win? Justin Burnett’s god, or the sheriff’s god? We haven’t had this much excitement since Wild Bill Hickok killed Davis Tutt on the square. It all seems so silly doesn’t it? Almost as silly as putting up those signs in the first place. They don’t work you know. They aren’t some sort of good luck charm like a rabbit’s foot, or a genie in a bottle to grant us wishes.

But wait. We throw around the word “god” pretty loosely. Define it. Explain it. If the Sheriff or Burnett mean the Jewish god or the Christian god or any specific god or religion, the whole thing would violate the First Amendment. They hope you think it is the Christian god, but they can’t say it. That would violate the establishment clause. So it’s just any or all gods.

There are probably as many definitions of “god” as there are people in this world. What is your definition? Is your god on the Sheriff’s side or the city’s? No fair asking your preacher what you should think. He does enough of that already.